BBC presenter Andrew Marr under fire from SNP after he appears to express his
opinion on Scottish independence during interview with Alex Salmond

Scottish Nationalists have threatened Andrew Marr with “consequences” after accusing him of voicing anti-independence views during an interview with Alex Salmond.

The SNP said Mr Marr had appeared to breach the BBC’s new impartiality rules covering the referendum by stating it would be “quite hard” for a separate Scotland to join the European Union.

Although they pulled back from tabling a formal complaint against Mr Marr, the party demanded the BBC provide an explanation and Mr Salmond suggested there were problems with its “generic” referendum coverage.

Pete Wishart MP, the Nationalists’ broadcasting spokesman, warned there would be “consequences” for Mr Marr and alleged the presenter was part of the pro-UK Better Together referendum campaign.

The row broke out during an increasingly testy interview on Sunday morning on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show during which Mr Salmond repeated his claim an independent Scotland would start life in the EU.

After the presenter suggested otherwise, the First Minister reacted with outrage and harangued the presenter as to whether this was the “Andrew Marr analysis” or the corporation’s point of view.

But Mr Marr referred to an interview he conducted last month with Jose Manuel Barroso in which the European Commission President said it would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible” for a separate Scotland to join the EU.

He told Mr Salmond that Mr Barroso had been “absolutely adamant in private and in public on the sofa” and that he claimed to be speaking for “many other” European leaders.

The bitter dispute is the culmination of months of tension between the corporation and the nationalists, which last week saw them highlight research by a nationalist academic that claimed to show BBC coverage of the referendum was biased.

The BBC last week issued special new guidelines for their journalists that were designed to ensure they cover the independence referendum impartially.

Mr Wishart took to the social networking website Twitter to state the interview was “the worst” the BBC has done on independence and Mr Marr “should just get his Better Together T-shirt out”.

The SNP broadcasting spokesman praised Mr Salmond for being “very restrained” but added: “Think there’ll be consequences for Marr.”

Stewart Maxwell, the Nationalist convener of Holyrood’s culture committee, claimed there was “overwhelming evidence” a separate Scotland would start life in the EU.

He said: “There are questions for the BBC to answer over their coverage of this issue. Firstly, they failed to press President Barroso about his comparison of Scotland – which has been part of the EU for over 40 years – with Kosovo.

“And now a presenter offers what appears to be a personal view on an independent Scotland’s EU membership. The comments from Andrew Marr appear to be outside the BBC’s editorial guidelines, and no amount of backtracking can change that.”

Questioning Mr Salmond about the issue, Mr Marr said he had been “quite surprised by how incredibly steely and sure” Mr Barroso was that Scotland could not re-enter the EU.

Mr Salmond cited several former senior European officials who support his position but Mr Marr pointed out none were elected or still in office.

The presenter said: “I think it would be quite hard to get back in, I have to say.” The host tried to move onto his next question, but an angry Mr Salmond pulled him up about his comment.

He demanded to know whether it was “the Andrew Marr analysis” or “an expression of the BBC”. Mr Marr denied it was either but an irate First Minister said: “You’ve just said what your opinion was.”

Mr Marr retorted that Mr Barroso “is currently the president of the European Commission, which is not a small job.”

But the First Minister said the “democratic verdict of the Scottish people” was more important than the “individual views of President Barroso or for that matter any views that may or may not be held in the BBC.”

A spokesman for Mr Salmond said he did not intend to lodge a complaint as he responded during the interview.

But he added: “The BBC face a more generic issue in relation to referendum coverage that has been highlighted by independent academic research and it is for the BBC to explain their overall approach.”

A BBC spokesman said: "Andrew himself made it clear on air that he had not been intending to express a personal opinion or that of the BBC, but was simply putting forward an argument from President Barroso who, as European Commission President, has an integral insight within the debate.

"The BBC's coverage of the Scottish referendum debate has been fair and balanced and we will continue to report on the story without fear or favour."